The Indianapolis journal., 1887-02-04
Feeding for Growth or Fat.


Simply feeding an animal without some def
mite object in view is to waste the food or else
deprive the animal of something it may require
unless the farmer knows the quality of the food
given and the Dutritive value of the Ingredients
of which it is composed. So important is .
knowledge of the proper mode of feeding that it
is often possible to produce more perfect ami
NAL from grade than from thoroughbred,
and Darwin expresses the opinion that the quail
ity of the food influences variation in animals,
and that when improvement is attempted by
judicious breeding the result Is largely lnf1u-
enced by the mode and periods of feeding, as
also by the quality and kinds of food used.
normal condition cannot be sustained in an
animal except by q mixed diet No single arti-
cle of food used for domestic animals can be re-
garded as complete or containing the proper pro-
portions of the necessary elements of growth and
warmth. Certain foods, rich in nitrogen. are re-
auired for producing flesh. These foods are
known as flesh formers" and are derived from
the gluten of grains. the legumen of clover and
from the different forms of nitrogen IN all the
plants used as food, being transformed in the
body of the animal into flesh and to supply the
natural waste of the muscles and cartilages, the
surplus being impaired to the products of the
animal as casein in milk or albumen in eggs
from birds.
A proper division and classification of the
foods enables the farmer to appropriate the ele-
ments particularly adapted for the accomplish
ment of the production of flesh, milk, butter or
| fat, for while the organic matter abouuding IN
| portion free from nitrogen, known as carbo-
hydrates contain starch. sugar and fatty oils, in
order to supply the fatty matter, while the
| earthly phosphates repair and renew the bones.
AS the constituents of an animals body must
| come from the food, it is not best to feed the
| starchy substance to young animals exclusively
| when growth is desired, which explains the
| cause of lack of thrift when straw coarse
/ hay is used, the animal cannot eat enough OF
| such substances in order to supply itself. Nor
! can we expect the best results from such grains
as corn, which contains large proportion OF
| starch and oil, with a small amount
/ of aesh-forming material but when corn is com
| bined with clover hay the elements are more
evenly divided, vet even in the combination Of
| the two foods time would show that some ele
ment might be lacking, and change of food
would be necessary.
/ 1t is more economical to feed variety. espe
| cially to growing stock, which demand more nj
| trogen and the phosphates than do those more
| matured, as the first must not only renew waste
| but add to the flesh and bone, while the adult is
| required only to renew waste. An adult animal
| therefore, yods the excess of nitrogenous mater
| ial. and consequence the manure from ma
| ture animal is more valuable than that from one
| which has not completed growth. An adult ami
NAL also fattens at less cost; therefore, as but
a small proportion of nitrogen is required, the
| mode of feeding depends upon the age and the
| objects desired to be obtained.